The Last of Us Gets New Details, Will Have an Online Mode

Some more details about The Last of Us, the upcoming survival game from Naughty Dog, have just appeared, shedding more light onto the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie, as well as supplying more information about the story, while hinting at an online mode.

The Last of Us already impressed quite a lot of people last year, when the first trailer was released during the 2011 Video Game Awards. Since then, details have slowly been revealed by developer Naughty Dog.

Now, thanks to a member of the NeoGAF forums, who managed to read the new issue of Game Informer magazine, a slew of new details has been uncovered.

First up, it seems that the world of The Last of Us is infected with fungal spores, which contaminate people that stumble into areas with a large concentration of these infected spores. There are only a few safe havens for non-infected humans, in the form of military quarantine zones.

Joel is a smuggler and he helps Ellie escape such a zone, as a promise to dying friend. As you can imagine, this is easier said than done and the two characters soon find themselves on the run from the military, while trying to avoid the infected monsters that roam the ruins of Pittsburgh. The relationship between the two characters evolves just like with Nathan Drake and Tenzin in Uncharted 2, according to Naughty Dog.

In terms of combat, The Last of Us relies heavily on melee attacks, as all sorts of items, from bricks to planks of wood, can be used to fend off enemies. Weapons are, of course, a part of the game, but the limited ammo means they can be used only as a last resort. Thankfully, according to the studio, most of the weapons are powerful enough to take down enemies with one shot.

During fights, Ellie helps the player, who controls Joel, with warnings and verbal cues. She slowly improves her combat skills throughout the game, but the studio didn’t go into details about her future powers.

Last but not least, an online mode will be included in The Last of Us, although the game’s Director, Bruce Straley, told Game Informer that the team had a bunch of ideas about the multiplayer component.